>> unbelievable! >> you can't do that, can you? >> absolutely. >> oh, yeah. >> our slogan this hour unrelated to that wonderful play, it's from susan in michigan. when the alarm goes off, no need to scoff. "fox & friends" is on tv. oh, happy, happy me. >> welcome aboard, folks. thanks for joining us on this very busy thursday morning. live from new york city, we got a lot to start with. >> we do because a fox news alert. u.s. military jury has cleared now a navy seal in an abuse case involving an iraqi prisoner accused of an attack that left four blackwater security contractors dead. first petty officer julio juartez was the first of three navy seals to go on trial. a u.s. military jury, we just said, we want to go right to molanie wilks who has the latest. >> good morning. just a short time ago, a u.s.

military jury cleared that navy seal for failing to prevent the beating of an iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding the horrifying attack that killed four contractors in fallujah. the petty officer first class from illinois was found not guilty by that six man jury of attempting to influence the testimony of another service members. these two other sailors are facing court-martial. they could have taken a disciplinary reprimand but insisted on a trial to clear their names. they were part of the navy's elite special forces unit and this trial outraged many, many say these men are heroes. not criminals. the prisoner was a suspect in that attack on u.s. contractors. you remember the contractors burned bodies, were dragged through the streets. two of them were hanged on a bridge over the euphrates river in fallujah in what became a major turning point in the iraq war. he had testified yesterday after he was captured last september he was taken to a camp outside of fallujah, that he was hooded,

tied to a chair. hit in the shoulders and back. and he claims he was kicked while lying on the floor. defense attorneys tried to cast doubt on the claims and they showed pictures of him with just a cut on his lip but no obvious signs of bruising but the headline today, obviously, that first seal has been acquitted, found not guilty of the charges against him. two other trials still to go. back to you. >> thanks very much. huge news because of the fact that these other two are still up on trial and whether or not, as you know, brian and steve, that al-qaida in their handbook, it tells that when you're captured to say exactly what this guy did. that you were beat up. >> yeah, and basically, they've revealed that to everybody and that's -- when they go into prison, they talk to each other and say let's get together on this and let's agree that we're beat up. they end up in court and our finest is back in iraq being tried. >> one of the allegations was that the -- that one of these guys punched one -- this guy in the mouth. and as gretchen mentioned, they

teach them tactics and one of the things they tell them is, you know, if you're about to be taken into custody, bite the inside of your mouth. bite your lip so it looks like they socked you and there's some that have surmised that's exactly what this bad guy did. >> is anybody watching right now that's upset if this guy was punched in the mouth? let's be honest. >> that's another good point. anyway, the first of those navy seals acquitted on those charges. two more trials remaining. another fox news alert. about 100 workers are being reunited with their families in louisiana after that oil rig explosion. survivors were brought to shore early this morning. the search for 11 still on and has been ongoing throughout the night. four of the survivors are in critical condition. the cause of the explosion still unknown. nfl commissioner roger goodell drops the hammer on ben rothlisburger, announcing a six game suspension for the quarterback. it comes a week after

prosecutors decided not to charge him after a college student accused him of sexually assaulting her in a nightclub back in march. coming up, we'll discuss what's next with ben with rich, big daddy delgado. >> rumors they'll try to trade them last night. >> the airline industry predicting losses will top $2 billion in the wake of the eruption of that volcano in iceland. they're looking for compensation now from european governments. civil aviation authorities are defending decisions to close the skies after airline officials claim the decisions were based on flawed data. all european air traffic expected to return to normal levels today but carriers say they may need as long as a week to get stranded passengers to their destination. meantime, the volcano is spewing less ash. scientists monitoring the neighboring and potentially more dangerous volcano. that could be a mess. the president and the first lady kick off "idol gives back," american idol's third annual fundraising show. >> we want to thank "american idol" for the example they're

setting and encourage everybody watching to make a contribution and to this year's finalists, as randy says, y'all my dogs. >> simon, be nice! >> that may be a tough challenge for simon but it was a star studded evening filled with performances by the black eyed peas, carrie underwood and even elton john. after two hours and $15 million raised, viewers bid their final farewell to kim urban, the 20-year-old from texas failed to impress the judges and the voters with his rendition of "better days" by the goo goo dolls. >> speaking of putting on a show, the president of the united states will tie up traffic in new york city later today. he'll essentially put wall street on a tighter leash but there are some who fear the medicine could be pretty stringent particularly for new york city. the headline here, dear mr. president, don't kill the golden goose, what they're talking about is the fact that here in new york city, 40% of the money the city winds up with is generated by the financial services industry.

and mayor bloomberg says that the bashing of wall street should worry everybody. they should do what's right for the country, what is -- and not what is politically popular and the president knows that a lot of people are mad at wall street but if he really beats them up in such a way that's punitive, could it be really bad for new york city, will a lot of these new york bankers wind up going to hong kong or london? that could be bad for america. >> the many campaign promises that he talked about on the campaign trail in 2008, this is one that he seems to be following through with because he said during his campaign that he was going to reel in wall street and that he believed this will bring more trust from the american public in what's going on on wall street. it's interesting, though, so many people on wall street voted for this guy. i mean, they voted for him and now you got to wonder if they're scratching their heads saying, this didn't work out so well for us. >> giving the democratic party millions of dollars and president barack obama who we'll go into detail in a second. got over a million dollars when he was senator and wanted to become president. not going to give that money back. more on that later. today, the president will be firm and direct.

tell me if you've heard this before. he'll say the status quo is unacceptable. we'll have to move forward with new rules. new rules will transform wall street in a way that has not been done since 1930. will republicans go along with it? by the way, what's in the 1400 page bill that's going to be coming up to a country near you? >> yeah. they better read it. >> did you say dodd bill and coming to a country or countrywide near you? >> that's funny. >> anyway, last night on the greta van sustren show, karl rove was on and he's been looking at the 1400 pages in this bill. in washington they don't read the bills. karl did. >> we have to pass them first. >> there's scary stuff in there that would worry all of you if it does pass. watch this. >> you may not know about this. it creates a new office and gives it a half a billion dollars a year and a huge startup for computer systems in order to monitor every financial transaction in the united states. and to use that data to arrive

at policy recommendations about sensible regulation. so they're literally going to have the capacity to go through everybody's brokerage account and everybody's checking account and everybody's credit card and everybody's financial transactions and collect -- sweep that information and then analyze it. >> another major point of concern is this angel investor clause. angel investors essentially allow things like yahoo, amazon, google and facebook come from very little collateral, startups, able to get some investors to say i'm going to take a risk and go back to these companies. they did, it grew a lot of jobs and one of the things that makes our country great. you can quickly get something going. you have a great idea and people feel as though they want to put their money in it. there's such criteria in that bill that maybe a lot of these startups will have to wait such a long time and won't reach the criteria. therefore, we might not have a yahoo. >> make it harder to start a business. >> this is the argument that some republicans have about they

started with health care reform. when you start clamping down on innovation, it doesn't happen anymore. same thing with the banks. when you start clamping down on innovation, new businesses are not born anymore. let's talk about goldman-sachs because it's been in the news for the last week. of course, the sec filing a civil lawsuit against them claiming that they were involved in some mortgage short selling mortgages. >> fraud! >> fraud, basically. but now, the president who received more than a million dollars in donations from goldman have said he will not give that money back to them. >> yeah. what's interesting about this, gretchen, is the fact that his administration is saying that goldman-sachs committed fraud! usually the conventional wisdom is if you were a politician and one of your campaign contributors is involved in fraud, you give the money back. he won't. blanch lincoln has scheduled a little fundraiser at that headquarters in lower manhattan with goldman-sachs employees and their pack. she has called that off. not going to happen.

and now she says she won't take anymore money from goldman-sachs employees. >> arlen specter says i'm going to waited. i took some money from goldman but i'll wait to see if anybody goes through before i give money back. mark kirk who wants to have barack obama's old job as senator from illinois has said i'm giving the money back. so a lot of republicans are saying wait a second, if he gives the money back, that means i got to give the money back, too, and this case-by-case basis, mark kirk might force them to do something he probably can't afford. >> do you think the president of the united states given the fact that the administration has said this corporation has committed fraud, do you think the president should give the money back or keep it because it came from individuals, the same individuals who wind up with those great big year end bonuses, generated by all the profits. e-mail us right now at foxnews.com. >> at the same time, the president yesterday in an interview said he knew nothing about the sec filing these actions. again, that had nothing to do with coincidental timing. but it's interesting to point out that the sec is supposed to

be a bipartisan, you know, nonpolitical entity. >> right. >> so it's not really as if the obama administration is filing charges against goldman-sachs. it's the sec. >> much like -- remember, i was thinking about this yesterday. the sec is supposed to be kind of omni present like switzerland floating around there. remember the congressional budget office called into the white house just before that whole thing came out? yeah, we're nonpartisan. oh, hey, suddenly our numbers work for you, mr. president. >> you're going to be talking to daryl isso a little bit later and investigating whether there was a connection or not. senator hatch was on our network saying i find it too hard to believe this is just a coincidence. let's talk about a video contest. if you're looking to win $250,000, i have a great premises. quite exciting and really intriguing. >> $2500. i'm entering if it's $250,000, i'll come up with a video right now. >> with this topic, i can't see when. >> it's government money. they could make it $25 billion because it's all our cash anyway. today is earth day. and today, we are going to tell

you about how the e.p.a. has announced this thing where they want you to come up with a video running between 60 and 90 seconds, post it to you tube and you're supposed to tell people -- tell people why regulations, why government regulations are really great. i'm not making that up. >> huh? >> you also have to use the slogan "let your voice be heard." there are a lot of regulations about how to do this regulation video. you have to say that particular -- i don't get this, ok? does anybody else get this? why would anyone take time to investigate why regulations are good for us like, for example, the price of coffee you drink in the morning is affected by regulations written by the commodity futures trading commission. who cares? >> maybe to justify all the regulations. >> i guess. >> look at the tax code. look at all those regulations. look at all the e.p.a. regulations. >> i'd start with a jingle and work my way backwards, somehow get -- work it federal regulation motivates. i'm not really sure i could get

that phrase into something catchy. i know they did this for the flu and water pollution. maybe i'll take a gander at them and see how excited you can be. all right. good luck on that contest if you decide to participate. but at 13 minutes after the hour, here's what we planned. >> the army reviewing its invitation now to evangelist franklin graham to speak on national prayer day after a group complained about his past statements about muslims. but what's really behind the change of heart? franklin graham speaks out exclusively with us next. >> you'll flip out when you see this video. watch this, a baseball player from fordham rounds home like superman!

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if it's not there are over 5 international awards we'd bter give back. the jaguar xf. the critically acclaimed result of a very different way of thinking. >> franklin graham was scheduled to speak at the pentagon on the national day of

prayer coming up. but now, the army may withdraw that invitation after a watchdog group complained about franklin graham's past statements of muslims. franklin graham is the son of billy graham and joins us from nashville with his reaction this morning. good morning to you, mr. graham. >> good morning. >> i guess this all stems back from some comments that you had after 9/11. where you said that islam is a very evil and wicked religion. do you still believe that, mr. graham? >> you know, gretchen, first of all, i love muslim people and i want muslims everywhere to know what i know, that god loves us. that he sent his son jesus christ into this world to take our sins and he died for our sins and rose from the grave and that christ can come into their heart and change them and they can have the hope of eternal life, salvation. i want them to know that they don't have to die in a car bomb, don't have to die in some kind of holy war to be accepted by god. but it's through faith in jesus christ and christ alone. but when you look at islam, i love the people of islam but

their religion, i do not agree with their religion at all. and if you look at what the religion does just to women, women alone, it is just horrid. and so yes, i speak out for women. i speak out for people that live under islam. that are enslaved by islam and i want them to know that they can be free, free through faith in jesus christ and christ alone. >> so i understand that because of your feelings about the religion of islam, a watchdog group had a problem with you speaking at national prayer day at the pentagon. here's what one of their spokespersons said about you doing that. he said there are two egregious issues with the pentagon having graham as a speaker. graham's statements describing the entire religion of islam as evil and wicked. there's this scuttle about whether or not you should actually be invited. the army frankly is considering whether or not you should be there. do you still want to be there, mr. graham? >> well, first of all, it's their decision.

i was asked by the national day of prayer this year to be their honorary chairman which i'm happy to do and, you know, gretchen, i have a son in afghanistan. this is his fourth tour and i pray every day for our military. i pray for not only my son, that god will put a hedge of protection around him and his men, but i pray for his commanding officers and our generals that god would give them wisdom and not only wisdom but god would give them success over our enemies. we're in war. and we need to pray for our military. we need to pray for our president and all those in authority. that's what the national day of prayer is all about. it's not about islam vs. christianity or whatever. it's about a nation coming together and praying for its leadership and that's what we're going to do on may 6th. national day of prayer. to focus this nation on praying to god to ask for his help. >> i want to get your thoughts on this because last week, we were discussing that a judge ruled that the national day of prayer was unconstitutional. even though the president still signed a document recognizing

it. so do you think in any way that this is an assault against christianity, against prayer, that not only did the judge say national day of prayer is unconstitutional but now they don't want you speaking at this event? >> of course, i think it's a slap that all christians that this unjust judge, you know, who is she when you look back at george washington who asked the original colonies to pray for the continental congress as they established our constitution, the prayer goes all the way to george washington. who is this judge to say that the congress cannot have a proclamation having one day, set one day aside to pray for its leadership. it's crazy. >> we'll wait and see what the decision is from the pentagon about whether or not your invitation is rescinded or not for national prayer day. >> thank you. >> thank you, gretchen. >> thank you for joining us. >> god bless. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> coming up on our show, we're playing connect the dots with stu varney. we are? here's the question, who got

money from fannie and freddie, who's writing the financial regulation and who's not included in the bill. heather locklear involved in a hit-and-run arrested again. for e every day special.

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>> >> the anti-virus software mcafee failed big time causing computers worldwide to crash and repeatedly reboot. a software update caused its anti-virus program for corporate customers to misidentify a harmless file. it posted a replacement update for download. and a new ruling once again shuts down funding for acorn. a federal appeals court temporarily blocking a judge's ruling to allow federal funding for the organization. that decision will stay in place until full arguments on the case

can be heard sometime this summer. guys? >> gretchen, is so jealous that we get this next guest to ourselves. >> i know, another exclusive. follow along here. who got money from fannie and freddie? all right? who's writing the financial regulation? and who is not included in the chris dodd bill? >> never ask me four questions in a row. that means stuart varney has to answer them. let's play connect the dot, stuart from "varney & company." tell me about chris dodd writing this bill. >> ok, he wrote the financial reform bill which essentially beats up on bankers. it beats up on wall street. it regulates wall street. not part of that reform effort is the whole housing market. fannie and freddie. >> wait a minute. wait, stop right there. that's what got us into trouble in the first place. >> thank you, steve. our absolutely right. go back to square one. go back to the beginning. what started the panic of 2008

and the recession of 2009. what started it? the collapse of the housing market. why did the housing market collapse? because politicians have forced fannie and freddie and accept low grade mortgages where they knew -- they were trying to shoehorn people into horses they could not afford. the mortgages went belly up, fannie and freddie ran into trouble. the housing market collapsed. now, that whole scenario, that whole messup of housing, fannie and freddie, that's not included in this reform bill. >> do it afterwards. >> why bother? >> right now, for political reasons, we're beating up on the bankers. we're beating up on wall street and forgetting about the housing market which has had a very close relationship with barney frank, chris dodd and president obama. there's a flow of money. there's a flow of influence. why should the democrats, congressman frank, senator dodd, why would they want to end the relationship with fannie and freddie by reforming them? it's a free flow of money,

influence and policymaking decisions over a key policy area, housing. >> so you've got this -- the house has already passed a jumbo of stuff and now chris dodd's 1400 page bill is out there and they're working on that. >> yes. >> what you're telling us is what caused all the trouble is not being addressed in that big bill. >> precisely. it is not. fannie and freddie housing are completely -- >> people -- >> exclusive of this bill. >> and bring up one other thing. in 2005, it was brought up that fannie and freddie need to be regulated and then senator barack obama said no. he voted against regulating fannie and freddie three years before it blew up. >> because fannie and freddie were the way you shoehorned relatively poor people into houses they could not afford. the democrats were part of that push in that area. why are we beating up on the bankers now? good political reasons. it makes good politics. it does not make good politics to start reining in fannie and

freddie and reforming them because they're the original cause of this problem. >> always a pleasure to have your perspective because you stay stuff a lot of people don't realize. >> thank you very much, steve. thank you. >> stuart, you seem nice. see you at 9:20 eastern time. i said seem. coming up straight ahead -- >> iran launching large scale war games in the persian gulf. just pushing our buttons or something sinister at play there? that looks playful. >> then a controversial story about the nfl and race. is a white running back being discriminated against? we'll present the evidence. and -->> the best piece of video of the day. a college baseball player rounding third. watch this. >> you can block the plate but i can jump over you! >> and he's absolutely safe at home. >> happy birthday to the man whose hair was once very big. peter frampton. he's from england. he seems cool and he's 60. >> pump up the volume in your hair. úñçqç?p>p

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>> well, on "the today show" president bush's daughter is paying the bill. that's what he said. since he's a democrat, he doesn't actually pay the bill himself. he leaves it for future generations of america. but you can get the idea. you can get the idea. >> leno reads the newspaper. >> and giving zingers in both

direction. president clinton's wife, secretary of state hillary clinton meeting with nato foreign ministers in estonia. on the agenda, nuclear defense and ways to drum up more trainers for the afghan army. the head of nato has said members should commit more to the training commission there that's crucial to a smooth transition of power. nato considering inviting bosnia to join the alliance during the two days of talks. brian? >> iran launching large scale war games here in the persian gulf and it's happening this morning. state television reporting that naval, air and ground units from iran's revolutionary guard are participating in the three day operation and i'm sure we're taping it. the pentagon says it's very confident it can defend the u.s., it can defend the u.s. against iranian missile strikes. that would help. in a report to congress, the defense department warns iran could develop a missile capable of striking the united states by 2015. iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. >> of course. >> it looks peaceful today, doesn't it? >> sure. meanwhile, police have identified the couple accused of leaving a little boy at st.

patrick's cathedral here in new york city. they say william scott and eleanor black dropped off 3-year-old nathaniel on tuesday at the church days after he was reported missing in florida. over 1,000 miles away. his mother was arrested on counterfeiting charges earlier. surveillance video shows the couple leaving the boy at the church but archbishop timothy dolan is just glad that nathaniel is unharmed. >> thanks be to god, he's safe and he's sound and thanks be to god that in some mysterious way, the people that left him here felt that he would be safe. >> the couple also suspects in a counterfeiting operation in florida. we should point out that, i believe, the grandparents in florida are ready to take custody of the kid. >> thank goodness. today is earth day. it was spearheaded 40 years ago by wisconsin senator gaylord nelson as a grassroots movement. here's video of the 20 million

americans participating in the first earth day event in 1970. the goal, to increase awareness about environmental and ecological issues and check out this spectacular first image of the sun from nasa's new solar dynamics observatory. it's going to help discover some of the sun's inner workings and provide information on climate change on earth. >> i think they're going to it's really hot. >> inside the sun, maybe. >> let's go inside the sun next hour. and this may be the play of the year in baseball. that's the game. trying to score but the catcher has the plate blocked. no problem! he skies. he leaps over and touches the plate. he is safe! it's all part of a nine run rally. best part, he was hit by three pitches that game before embarrassing his opponent, revenge is sweet. fordham wins 12-9 and by the way, the guy we now call the fordham flipper will be joining us next hour. >> great. let me ask you a sports question. if he had gone outside of the lines and did some sort of a twist, you know, like a double

black flip twist and then came back over home plate, he would have been out. >> i think if you said go outside the lines. right? i mean, that's it. >> he was in the lines. >> you can do whatever the heck you want. is that what you're talking about? when he's skying? >> let's say if he had during his twist gone outside of the lines, would he have been out? >> probably. but he went straight -- he went up and he went straight so don't be surprised if the yankees are now talking to people at cirque du soleil. you know? wouldn't you? >> that's going to be a requirement now to be a good baseball player. >> maybe. also for baseball, you need dry weather. let's find out where it's raining across the central plain states. could have a rain delay for the kansas city royals if they're playing in kansas city today. widely scattered showers in portions of the ohio valley, portions of the northeast. from the mid atlantic down to florida, it's nice and dry on this thursday. temperaturewise, 30's and 40's throughout the northern plains and also through the great lakes. we've got 51 right now here in new york city. 52 in atlanta and we have 60's along the gulf coast. later on today, things are going to warm up.

it's going to be nice in the mid atlantic. 76 in raleigh and then you've got some 80's all the way from the lower mississippi valley through portions of florida. and also through portions of the great state of texas. and that's your fox travelcast. >> 23 minutes before the top of the hour. the future stars of the national football league will take their first step into the spotlight tonight. at the nfl draft, it's right across the street at radio city music hall. only one man will be looking out for their next step and maybe their future generations of their family. it's not just about touchdowns and tackles. it's also about protecting their lives. after all, it is tackle football. >> president of coastal advisors, rich big daddy joins us on the curvy couch to discuss player insurance. this is becoming a big thing now, where players are insuring their bodies because so many get injured and sometimes they're out of the game? >> yeah, they -- what i was told, guys, is look, you get x amount of money. you have x amount of time. you hope to, let's say you get

your first contract. you hope to get to your second one. and god forbid, something were to happen, that's where i come in. >> and immediately you come in and the families come in and they say wait a second, this is a great moment for me but the average career lasts, what, a year and a half? >> two years maybe if they're lucky. as we say in nfl, stands for not for long. >> right. >> there's something else about this draft that stands out. kind of a unique story. racism. in a subtle way, maybe not a brutal way like we're used to hearing but there's a white running back coming out of stanford and he's finding a lot of people saying you're a white running back. i don't know if we can take a risk on you. >> i find that ridiculous. i mean, that guy when you watch him, runs hard and, you know, he went to stanford. not a dumb guy. smart guy. offensive guy. >> he's the quote, he said one team i interviewed with asked me about being a white running back. i said no, i'm just out there

playing football. i don't think that should matter. >> those are questions that come out of the blue. they're trying to dig to see how is this guy going to react, what is he all about? that's something i could walk into the meeting and say, hey, you know, let me throw this guy a curveball. that's one of the -- >> you think so on that? i think it's totally reverse discrimination. >> you know what? it might be in a sense but they go in there and they try to break down each kid. ok? how does he react? how is he going to answer this? so that might have been one of those types of questions. >> speaking of breaking down, the nfl commissioner broke down to finally punished ben rothlisburger and sounds like he's out for six games. >> max six, four if he's good. >> he's got to get treatment. >> he's got to get treatment. you knew that was coming because the steeler organization, you know, old school, quiet. they don't want all those distractions. right now, pittsburgh is up in arms. >> they're embarrassed by it.

>> they're very embarrassed about that. >> treatment for what, though? what's the requirement? >> he's got to go into psychological testing to see if there's an alcohol problem, behavioral problem. he's got two major incidents with accusations from women over the last two years. the stupid idiot thing he did of driving his motorcycle without a helmet on almost killed himself. at 28 years old with two super bowls last night there's rumors the pittsburgh steelers were looking to trade him. see if there's any takers. >> yeah. unfortunately, they want a top 10 pick or a high 15 pick and who needs a quarterback that bad that they're going to give up that to take that on and take a guy that's already -- who is going to miss the first six games? >> it was interesting because yesterday, the commissioner roger goodel said essentially, you know, despite what people say these guys are role models and they've got to live up to a higher standard. >> especially in that city where football is life! >> but richard, here's the other thing. he hasn't been convicted of anything. this is where the players union could go up and screw this whole thing up and say, without any

legal case against him, how could you just look at with two separate incidents with women coming forward? >> i think it's because it's the person. he's the quarterback. and it's pittsburgh and it's just become such a negative thing that -- >> are you saying there have been any other city? i mean, dallas is a big football town, too. >> i'm not saying let's not use the geographic. i believe because of where he's at and like i said, the power that -- the influence that the steeler nation has. >> real quick, how exciting is it? this has been a huge thing. thursday, friday, saturday, sunday. this is going to be the nfl draft here. this thing is a phenomenon. >> you don't know who is going where. that's the beauty of it. it's because st. louis has the first pick and they may trade down. you know what? they trade down because they'll save $40 million. load up on draft picks later on. so who knows who is going where. everybody says one is definitely going to st. louis. you don't know. >> how much money will be thrown around for the first three picks? >> right off the bat, the first one is guaranteed $50 million.

>> $50 million. >> that's a lot of insurance. >> lot of insurance, exactly. >> we were looking at radio city music hall across the street from our world headquarters where things will be taking off. are the rockettes involved in the draft? >> no, you know, i'm sure the fellas wish there was some sort of entertainment. >> they do need insurance, though, rich. they pull a hamstring, they want to know that richard is there for them. >> listen, i'll be right across the street waiting for them. >> thank you very much. >> i appreciate it. thanks for having me. >> we have your buddy in two hours, mike strahan. >> i'll sit around and make sure i harass him before he comes on. >> can you believe it's been 10 years already since elian gonzalez was taken by gun point. up next, the fisherman who plucked him out of the water here live. >> good news for all of you wine drinkers out there, our medical panel will pop the cork on the details regarding red wine and long life. >> by the way, here's your quote of the day. luci: i'm luci romberg.

i'm a free runner... ...national champion gymnast... ...martial artist... and a stuntwoman. if you want to be incredible, eat incredible. announcer: eggs. incredible energy for body and mind. (guitar music) just a little bit of seasong. rachel. ( door slams ) well, today's lesson-- the importance of durab kohr cast iron sinks. and honey is the best policy.

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black one! ow! where? [ male announcer the volkswagen tiguan. the only compact suv with a turbocharged engine, standard. [ vrrroooooomm! ] black one! where? there. [ male announcer ] lease the 2010 tiguan for just $269 a month. it's a whole new volkswagen. and a whole new game. >> welcome back. bit of news right now, it's a top secret space mission. it's top secret but we got details. a new kind of spacecraft is set to launch tonight at 7:52 eastern. the x-37b is often called the shuttle baby. it's an unmanned robotic rocket designed to stay in orbit up to nine months at a time. the air force is being tight lipped about what information the rocket can find. but it does look like a little bitty shuttle. and from melrose place to the big house? >> don't you? >> trying to keep the client

who is practically out the door is what i call doing my job. >> don't give me that, allison. you're poaching and poachers get shot! >> yeah, heather locklear arrested for hit-and-run. she crashed her b.m.w. into a no parking sign near her home in ventura county, california. it's a misdemeanor but locklear currently is on probation for reckless driving after a d.u.i. arrest back in 2008. sometimes life, brian kilmeade is like a soap opera. >> makes me want to watch that episode again. today marks the 10 year anniversary of a little cuban kid elian gonzalez when he was removed at gunpoint from the home of their miami relatives. man seen holding him right there very tightly in that photo is our next guest. one of the fishermen who rescued elian at sea after his mom drowned at sea, unfortunately. how are you? >> good. how are you doing there? >> good. you came on with us during that entire saga. we appreciate it then.

now we see elian who has gotten up in years, young man. what are your thoughts as you look at that photo to open up this segment? >> you know, it was a very scary moment back in those days, you know, 10 years has passed. it's hard to believe. that was a frightening time, you know, to wake up early in the morning, house being raided when they were negotiating on the phone with janet reno and eric holder and those guys and wake up to hearing, get down or we're going to shoot. get down, we're going to shoot, you know, and you know, i don't know how still to this day, i was reminiscing and jogging my memory, elian just got into my arms, you know, i mean, we were just running for cover, actually. >> how often do you think about him and what his life is like and what it could have been? >> you know, listen, it's like everything, you know, life is, you know, is like a video, we go back and we rewind, you know, but we also go forward, you know, so i think about him and, you know, seeing him on the news, you know, brings it back fresh to memory. you know what i mean?

but, you know, since elian has left, you know, i have two children. you know, of my own so i'm caught up in my own world, you know, not selfishly but, you know, life goes on. >> and you have not been able to talk to him, right? had no contact with elian since? >> no. no contact whatsoever. i mean, you know, that day being caught in that photograph, i mean, that just, you know, put me in a position, you know, other than my cousin, he wasn't in that same position. i know he's gone down to cuba but for me, i was definitely not able to make that trip because of that photo actually. they thought i was harboring the child. >> and they pointed that gun right at you. we'll never forget that shot. we continue to see elian used as a prop by the cuban government. thanks so much for joining us. good luck with your house cleaning business and stay safe. >> all right. thank you. >> all right. meanwhile, coming up straight ahead, all this talk about the government taking salt away from you because it's so bad for you. but aren't there good things

about salt? our medical panel is here with salty truth and we're following breaking news out of baghdad. jury delivers a verdict to the navy seals. how did they do? [ male announcer ] mix . blend it. sprinkle it. sweet! [ female announcer ] just about anywhere you use sugar you can use splenda® no calorie sweetener. [ male announcer ] saory. fluffy. yummy. sweet! [ female announcer ] splenda®. america's favorite no calorie sweetener.

>> now the answer to the quote of the day, who said countless times, i thought it was done. i've been doing this professionally for 60 years. i love the idea of going out on a positive note. i've had a great time. i want to get off the stage? the answer, leonard nimoy and the winner is mark in indianapolis. spock. all right. very good. meanwhile, straight ahead, a new report finds that americans are consuming a dangerous amount of salt. and right now, the f.d.a. is pushing to regulate how much salt is in certain foods. but is salt always a bad thing? not necessarily. right now, our all star medical panel is here with some answers to these questions.

we got dr. manny alvarez, caroline cromwell and david, good morning to all of you. >> good morning. >> the f.d.a. wants to tell us we're eating too much salt. it's good for you. >> it's good for you. it's necessary. it's mandatory. but what is happening is americans are not paying attention and we're eating too much salt and that's leading to heart disease and hypertension but, however, i hate the government getting involved in telling me what to eat and not to eat. >> food police. >> absolutely. and at the end of the day, i don't think it's going to make a lot of difference. in the short term. maybe in 25 years from now. but, you know, look, this is what happens when we're not response i be. you get the government down your thought. >> goodie. now, we understand as well, dr. cromwell, there is a new report out that says, surprise, surprise, we're eating too much sugar and sugar can lead to a whole host of medical problems. >> right. again, not surprising. too much sugar, not good for you. not surprise to any of us. this study showed there was an association between sugar intake and high cholesterol.

just an association. not a cause. along with everything else, we need to just watch our sugar intake. >> but the worry, though, is you look at what he was talking about. >> he's looking at my thigh, aren't you? >> you look at the federal government now talking about regulating salt. before you know it, they're going to start regulating sugar. >> right. along with all the salty foods we're eating, we're drinking big sugary drinks to wash down all that salt. we need to regulate ourselves. public health education. >> personal responsibility. >> absolutely. >> when we're not drinking the sugary drinks, we're drinking the red wine. there's a new report out that shows that red wine can be good to protect people against strokes. >> i love red wine. i know you're a big fan of it. >> i am. >> so red wine. we've covered this before, that it actually helps heart disease and prevention. you obviously have to drink a lot of red wine to -- what's in red wine? the skin of grapes. so but in order to get enough of

it, you have to drink like 1,000 bottles of red wine. but no one is going to do that because of alcohol disease. you know what? this is a great study and i think there's something about this respiritrol we'll hear more and more. in this study, basically what they're saying is it can have preventative measures against stroke, it can reduce the free radicals, it can bring some oxygenation to the area and, perhaps prevent -- >> it's a good thing. let's hope the government does not tell us we cannot have our red wine. >> stay away from salt. not too much sugar and have two glasses of red wine and that's a take home message for today. >> i need that in prescription form, if you can write me a note. all right. always a pleasure. >> good to see you. >> thanks, guys and gal. it's 3 minutes before the top of the hour. coming up at the top of the hour, the sec accuses goldman-sachs of a major fraud. why not? congressman daryl issa says the case wreaks of political motivation. we'll talk to him live and singer kelly clarkson banned

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neutrogena recommended most by dermatologists. >> a verdict just handed down for one of the navy seals accused of giving a most wanted terrorist a fat lip. we'll bring the verdict to you in just moments. >> wow. in just a few hours, president barack obama addresses wall street but do you know what he wants to do? how about being able to go through your private financial information? is that included in the 1400 page bill? steve? >> great. meanwhile, a new weapon against a bioterror attack could be right in the palm of your hands. your phone. we'll explain that straight ahead. our slogan this hour comes from tim in asheville, north carolina. brian, gretchen and steve are so innovative off script just like

the shortstop with fordham and his innovative flip. >> hi, we're the oakridge boys. >> you are watching "fox & friends." >> thank you very much. welcome to the big show! >> like that. >> i don't think you could be called a boy and have a voice that deep. that's just me. the oakridge boys. >> the oakridge men. >> i think they've grown. >> this morning we start with the fox news alert. as we just alluded to, a military jury has cleared now a navy seal of all charges in his court-martial case. petty officer first class julio huertas was accused of failing to prevent the beating of an iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding an attack that killed four american contractors. huertas did not testify in his own defense. he's the first of three seals to go on trial for the alleged assault. the iraqi testified that he was beaten while a u.s. sailor told the court he saw the prisoner punched once. so this is huge news this morning because we've been

following this case very closely. two more navy seals now will continue to face a trial but good news if you believe that this guy maybe wasn't guilty when he, in fact, arrested the most wanted terrorist. >> i was reading a report from "the l.a. times" that says apparently, it was a pretty quick decision in this particular case for this particular navy seal, they deliberated less than two hours. so clearly, the case was clear that the guy was innocent. >> it is. it's gotten the whole country up in arms about it. how these guys could get -- after two years of tracking, they get the most wanted terrorist and bring them into custody and evidently, it was a naval petty officer who looked over and said the prisoner is bleeding and said -- he claimed that he was punched. now, all of a sudden, instead of taking a reprimand and moving on, the seal says we didn't do it. we have to go to trial. they had to go to iraq in this case, one of the guys had to go to iraq to get his trial. he's cleared on two charges. we'll see if the other two will be as fortunate. the american people -- have you

seen any e-mail where people think that these guys should be convicted? should be tried? and should be jailed? >> jonathan keefe will be the other one tried in baghdad and then matthew mccabe, his trial is the first week of may in norfolk, virginia. but there's been a big outcry about this because the main thing is what does this do to the morale of the navy seals as they continue to go out and try to arrest terrorists if they think they're going to be thrown in the slammer because of the way in which they arrest or because of the stories that the alleged terrorist makes up after the arrest, it's going to change their tactics on the ground. >> ok, so that's breaking news. also a little later on this morning, the president of the united states is going to go down to coopers union here in new york city, in manhattan and he's essentially going to put wall street on notice. we have received some of the points from the white house he's going to make five key proposals. first, he's going to come up with a system to ensure that the financial system, the broader economy and the american taxpayers are protected in the event that a large firm begins to fail. he's going to talk about a rule

that sets limits on the size of banks. he's going to talk about reforms that will bring new transparency to many financial markets. strong consumer financial protections that will give american consumers more protection. and have a say on pay reforms that would give investors and pension holders a stronger role in determining who manages the companies in which they have placed their savings. >> it's very interesting to see how republicans now seem to be coming to at least some of the same points as the democrats and maybe will, in fact, have a debate on this bill as early as monday. but last night, on greta's show, karl rove said there are some things involved in this bill as in most bills that are 1400 pages long that the devil could be in the details at least for the taxpayer. >> you may not know about this. it creates a new office and gives it a half a billion dollars a year and a huge startup for computer systems in order to monitor every financial transaction in the united states. and to use that data to arrive

at policy recommendations about sensible regulations. so they're literally going to have the capacity to go through everybody's brokerage account and everybody's checking account and everybody's credit card and everybody's financial transaction and collect -- sweep that information and then analyze it. >> so they got 1400 pages coming your way. the dodd bill has not been voted on yet but in committee, this agriculture committee voted yesterday and in it, there was one republican that went for it and it was senator grassley and it was basically focusing on derivatives and some type of regulation and transparency within it. but in the big picture, i think you have a situation where republicans are coming around to this bill because they feel as though they're getting and making some progress. one thing that republicans want out is the $50 billion fund that would allow banks when taken down and looked to be insolvent, that would be the money used to break it up and sell it off. and republicans are not ok with that. number one, do you want the executive branch only deciding,

you know what? i've been looking at x, y, z bank and i think it's too big and about to explode. i think it's a danger. let's say that bank, for example, two administrations down the line was not a supporter of that administration. do you think they're going to look at it the same way that, perhaps, another bank -- another big bank is? they never were friendly to the administration. they lose out on the election and all of a sudden, maybe they have a different way of approaching it. >> very interesting point. i also think there's politics at play here as to why republicans are suddenly getting on board. >> because. >> because after this big investigation of goldman-sachs, the american public looks at wall street and for the most part says they're the bad guys and the republicans want to be re-elected in the midterm elections too. if they're the ones who hang things up, they can face trouble at the ballot. >> speaking of politics, the people of new york are worried about this thing because here in new york city, 40% of the revenue from taxes and stuff like that come from the financial services industry. and the worry is that if they're really tough on new york city, some of these big financial

companies could go to london or hong kong or to some place else. that's why bloomberg says it might be popular but doesn't necessarily mean it's true. so where has schumer been? where has gillebrand been? these are two senators representing new york state. schumer all along has been trumpeting this bill but at the same time, his constituents are going, wait a minute. you know, we're providing a lot of the money for new york city. don't completely clobber us. gillebrand yesterday had the chance to step forward and stick up for her constituents but at the last minute, she stepped away. >> she changed her mind. >> she did. >> goes back to her anonymous status. other thing to bring up, an interview the president of the united states did yesterday with another network and asked about this new value added tax which we've been discussing on our show for a while and essentially, it would tax everything, a product -- in a product from the day it was made, from the day it was manufactured to it was brought into market. >> at each stage of production. >> at each stage of production. therefore, you don't know what you're paying.

it's not going to be $4.50 plus tax. it's going to be $5.25. you don't even know where those taxes are. a lot of people have said this is the way europe and this is the way europe does it. and this is the way the u.s. can balance their budget. has the president of the united states considered folding that in? >> well, here's the amazing thing is that if you -- let's just face it. the president wants to have the vat tax, ok, because he had one of his guys floated out there two, three weeks ago and then everyone started talking about it and that's what they always do. kind of like a trial balloon to see what the reaction is going to be to it and now, emphatically in an interview, he says, yeah, we're considering it. we're considering it and we're wide open to it. this is a back door way, folks, of you being taxed more. here's the president. >> we are currently on an unsustainable path and that means that we're going to have to a tax system that works better for everybody and is simplified. i know there's been a lot of talk around town lately about the value added tax, that is

something that's worked for some countries. it's something that would be novel for the united states. and before, you know, i start saying that makes sense or this makes sense, i want to get a better picture of what our options are. >> i've appointed a panel. >> they'll be the heavy and members of congress will have to be the heavy on the whole thing. one more point on this and this is going to get people really, really steamed, i think. once you start this vat tax, you cannot really go back. and here's the other thing. if they even just say that they're going to pay off the deficit with it, there's no guarantee they actually will and that should be what's troubling. >> see, i don't see anyway they can get this through because the u.s. senate earlier this week by a vote of, what, 85-13 said that the vat would be bad. john mccain was behind it. a whole bunch of democrats were behind it. the president may have a great big hole in his checkbook but at the same time, people don't want this. will he do it? stay tuned. >> all right. let's do a couple of other

headlines for you at this hour. about 100 survivors of that explosion on an oil rig are being checked out at hospitals near new orleans. they arrived to waiting family members before dawn. coast guard still searching for 11 missing workers on that rig and they have two cutters and a helicopter out searching. four people, meantime, in critical condition. the airline industry predicting losses will top $2 billion in the wake of that eruption of the volcano in iceland. they're looking for compensation from european governments, though, because 80% of the airspace in europe, well, is open. it's back open now but it was closed. carriers say they may need as long as a week to get everyone where they need to go. meanti meantime, the volcano spewing less ash but scientists are monitoring a neighboring and potentially for dangerous volcano. new weapon against a biochemical attack. your cell phone? homeland security's science division working now with cell phone manufacturers on inserting a chip into phones that can sense a variety of toxic chemicals in the air. the phones would then alert the user and, of course, emergency

services. developers say that it will still be several years before the phone hits the market. the second largest muslim group in indonesia wants to boycott kelly clarkson's upcoming concert in the country because of this ad. the american idol superstar is coming under fire because the tobacco industry is sponsoring her concert. the muslim group says all things related to smoking including the concert are forbidden under islamic law. clarkson says she didn't know about the sponsorship and doesn't advocate smoking. >> let's take a look at the weather forecast coast to coast. we have the radar right here. widely scattered showers across the central plains, central missouri valley and otherwise, nice and dry across a balance of the country. it's 7:11 now in new york city. home of the new game day beer. >> it never closes. more than 20 -- straight ahead, more than 20 government burst into a holiday inn kidnapping six people. the very latest from south of the border. >> congressman darrell issa wants answers from the sec about

charges against goldman-sachs. was the timing just a coincidence or planned ploy with the white house? he joins us live from washington next. [ female announcer ] it's rollback time at walmart. right now, walmart has rolled back prices on top lawn carerands like poulan pr brute by briggs & stratton, pennington, scotts and spectracide. along with thousands of others all over the store. it's rollback time! save money. live better. walmart.

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>> just a coincidence or a well planned ploy? that's a question everybody is asking about the sec charges that came out last friday against goldman-sachs. and congressman darrell issa of california wants answers. he is the ranking member of the committee on oversight and government reform and he joins us right now from washington. good morning to you, congressman. >> good morning, steve. >> you know, we were talking about this first thing monday morning. it just looks like -- it looks like it was time for political benefit because friday, you've got the sec saying, we're going after goldman-sachs. they committed fraud. the week before the president launches his great big let's fix

wall street reform push. >> well, there's no question that the timing is good for the administration, good for vilifying in general wall street but it's also good for covering up an i.g. report that was scathing about the sec going after cheap, quick lawsuits rather than serious cases like madoff and stanford, people who committed schemes where billions were lost by individuals so there's more than one coincidence here and all we're asking is for the sec to give us e-mails and time lines and answers because this is troubling that an agency that almost always does their releases after the close of the market chose to do it very much at a political arena during a market and during a time in which the public would very much see this as wall street greed. >> sure. we've had a number of e-mail from people out there in tv land who say it's not a coincidence.

it looks to them, of course they're just watching from tv land, looks to them like there was some sort of coordination between the sec and somebody so i understand you want to know about all e-mail, all communications between the sec and what? the white house, democrats and even "the new york times," right? >> well, especially "the new york times." you understand that when the sec goes after people for insider trading, it's basically somebody leaked information ahead of time so here is something that clearly was going to move the market, particularly for goldman-sachs and for "the new york times" to publish it as they did, it had to be leaked ahead of time to inherently if nothing else, somebody at the sec did something where they would pursue a public company official. >> one other topic we want to touch on you is joe sutac running for a senator pennsylvania revealed he was offered a job to drop out of the race so arlen specter would have a cake walk. since then, he's been asked has he talked about it. i understand you have tried on a

number of occasions to get the attorney general of the united states eric holder to investigate. what's the status of this right now? >> well, we've sent one last letter. and i've made it clear, this is the last letter. either the attorney general does their job or we will make efforts to force a special prosecutor or some other means, because what we have is we have a multiple times in which joe sustac says he was offered a job, a job by definition would be a felony based on trying to get him out of a race. arlen specter even says there's an additional felony for this bribe, as i calls it. so you have a former u.s. attorney and a congress -- a senator who is saying that the congressman's right. this is a crime. we've got to get to the bottom of it. all we ask him to do is do his job. we don't have -- we don't have any interest in which one of these people wins the primary. we do have an interest in corruption in government. >> as we all do. all right, congressman darrell issa, thank you very much for joining us today from washington, d.c. >> thanks, steve. >> all right. straight ahead, it's been five months since the climate gate

scandal broke where thousands of documents revealing top scientists had manipulated global warming data. how the mainstream media fared in the coverage on this earth day. we'll talk about that. meanwhile, a dream vacation turns into a nightmare. passengers on a cruise ship bruised and battered. we'll tell you what happened and where straight ahead. the most powerful half ton crew in america has a powertrain backed for 100,000 miles. chevy silverado half-ton a consumers digest best buy and the most dependable, longest-lasting full-sized pickups on the road. get 0% apr for 60 months on 2010 silverado half-ton models with an average finance savings around fifty four hundred dollars. at world record speed.

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>> hey, time for your news by the numbers on this thursday. first, 61 million dollars. that's how much a family swindled by bernie madoff owes the federal government. that family is fighting the bill from the i.r. s. claiming the feds owe them for their madoff losses. next, 100. that's the bill that just got a make-over. the new high-tech benjamin contains advanced security

features like a blue three dimensional security ribbon. see that thing right in the middle? it will be in circulation next february. and finally, 224, that's how many players in the nfl will be drafted this season. the draft begins tonight in new york city. former nfl star michael strahan will join us with his predictions next hour here on fox. >> all right. thank you, steve. happy earth day, america. today, we're taking a look back at how the mainstream media covered and didn't cover climategate. that was the release of all those e-mails exposing that scientists held back data that discredits theories on global warming. >> joining us on earth, the president and founder of medical -- at the media research center. kind of threw me off there, brent. first off, this story in particular covered very differently from network to network. what's your take on global warming and some of the problems that came along our way this

year? >> well, what's my take on it? i'm agnostic. there are three schools of thought on global warming. one is that it's science and it exists. the other is there's absolute science that it doesn't exist. and the third school is that it's unsettled, that we don't actually know. what's been going on in the press, however, is a number of years is the systemic push to say we can only have one point of view on this which is it's subtle science and sober. then comes the eruption. what does that tell you? this is the university that is the -- the cornerstone of the global warming science and we find from leaked memos that there was actually -- there were campaigns to manipulate the data in their favor. there was a campaign to destroy evidence that would go against them, to manipulate that evidence and there's a campaign to bully journalists to not listen to critics of this. >> right. >> you have this huge explosion. what does the media do about it? >> big people resigned as a

result of that. but how was it covered in the mainstream media? let's get -- i want to get to the clip because i want to show this first one from abc news and how they covered that exact thing you were talking about. >> global warming naysayers are claiming that e-mails stolen from this research university show climate scientists discussing how to fudge results to promote the idea that humans are altering the planet. the science is solid, according to a vast majority of researchers with hotter temperatures, melting glaciers and rising sea levels providing the proof. >> naysayers, the words. they might as well be calling them the flat earth society. stolen data. look at the pejorative. no evidence of this. they dismiss it at the end by saying it's subtle science. by the way, it took abc 16 days before they did their first story on this. >> because it wasn't in the direction they wanted it.

let's take a look at what nbc did. i want you to focus on the language, too, and they talk about what's in those e-mails and how they could have been manipulated and how science could have been manipulated. here's how nbc covered the story. >> language in the e-mails suggests these scientists manipulated their findings. >> just consumed what a lot of scientists thought, that seems and not right that they've -- it's complete obstruction. >> penn state scientist michael mann who features in the e-mail says the word trick in one exchange does not refer to deception but rather an accepted data technique. >> it was all clearly labelled in the paper, there was nothing secret about it. what the person meant was there was a clever approach to the problem. >> of course, that's what trick means. >> well, again, this one is a little bit better. it gives both sides of the story, except one side is dishonest. what this fellow was saying and the evidence shows it, that this fellow mann was saying was simply untrue. it wasn't about tricks.

this was a campaign to manipulate scientific data. this is what the critics of global warming have been saying all along and guess what? they're right. but it goes against the narrative so it's been absolutely ignored by the networks. >> right, so from your analysis, you found that nbc was the worst in their coverage. 75% of the stories promoted global warming. the movement. cbs was actually the best. 48% of the stories promoted. so it's very interesting to take a look at this and that's what you do for your living on a daily basis and thank you for sharing all of your research with us. >> i've got my s. u.v. running in the back. i have to go back to it. >> i can hear it. getting your 8 miles to the gallon. >> thanks, brent. >> all right. straight ahead, a muslim group declares war against the makers of south park. yeah. why they're out to kill kenny along with his creators. that story is straight ahead. >> and the e.p.a. using your money to offer a $2500 reward for a video contest. what they're using tax dollars to promote coming up. >> they say in baseball

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our government loan, in full, with interest, five years ahead of the original schedule. but there's still more to do. our is to exceed every expectation you've set for us. we're putting people back to rk, designing, building, and selling the best cars and trucks in the world. ith our 100,000-mile, 5-year powertrain warranty to guarantee the quality. and the unmatch life-saving techlogy of onstar to lp keep you safe. from new energy solutions. to the designs of tomorrow. we invite you to take a look at the new gm. >> big day here. all eyes on wall street today as president obama goes into the den of the bulls and bears to pick a fight and push financial reform. the biggest transformation and reformation since 1930.

fox business network's peter barnes is outside of cooper union where the president will be speaking and where lincoln once stood. hey, peter. >> well, hey, brian. you know the president is from the chicago school of politics. and he is coming here to cooper union and to new york to rumble about wall street today. he wants to try to push financial regulation reform across the finish line here as democrats and republicans in the senate try to work out a compromise that can be taken up in the senate next week. now, as you recall, brian, candidate obama came here two years ago and spoke in march 2008 and talked about the failure of responsibility of wall street just as the financial crisis was getting under way. and so he made financial reform a major campaign issue back then. well, he's back here today, not by accident. of course. and the white house has released some excerpts of what he's going to say to wall street today and among other things, he will say "i said two years ago on this stage that i believe in the

power of the free market. but a free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get however you can get it." we also got a little bit of a preview of the president's other remarks from one of his top economic advisors. take a listen. >> going to talk about this financial crisis led to an amazing amount of misery in the wider economy as everyone knows. and so we have got to for the sake of the economy now and nor the sake of the economy that's going to face us in the years to come, we've got to reform the financial system. >> one thing we'll hear a lot from the president about today is wall street lobbyists, he will take a baseball bat to them for trying to water down this legislation in washington. but then he will also ask wall street to help him to join with him to help finish this process because guess what?

it's going to get done. there will be about 700 people in the audience including some wall street executives so that tells you -- they say in washington if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. he will say we can't allow this moment to pass. couple other things, there will be consumer advocates protesting wall street firms down on wall street today as the president is making his speech. a lot of security and finally, mixed feelings about his visit here by new yorkers, you know, "new york post," you saw the headline today. dear mr. president, don't kill the golden goose. city economy in peril in the name of reform. a lot of financial companies here hurt in the financial crisis and want to try to get out of this thing whole and start hiring again. a lot of layoffs in the industry here in new york, as you know. brian? >> all right, peter barnes, great job. we'll be tracking that story and covering the president. we'll have it here on fox news. thanks, peter. >> i like the way he said if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. i got a feeling some of those

guys will feel like they're being slightly sauteed by the president anyway. >> but did they pay for the dinner with all the donations given to the democratic party and a million bucks goldman-sachs to the president alone. >> continuing story. we'll keep up to date throughout the day here on fox. another news alert. a military jury has cleared a navy seal of all charges in his court-martial case. petty officer first class julio huertas was accused of failing to prevent the beating of an iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding an attack to kill or blackwater american contractors. huertas did not testify in his own defense. he is the first of three seals to go on trial for the alleged assault. the iraqi testified that he was beaten while a u.s. sailor told the court he saw the prisoner punched once. so what does this mean for the two other seals? we're going to talk to one of their attorneys at the top of the next hour. >> well, new video just into "fox & friends" of secretary of state hillary clinton arriving at a meeting with nato foreign

ministers in estonia. on the agenda today, nuclear defense and ways to drum up more trainers for the afghan army. the head of nato says that members should commit more to the training mission there which is crucial for a smooth transition of power. >> yep, at least six people kidnapped after dozens of gunmen stormed a holiday inn in monterey, mexico. police said the heavily armed gang ran from room to room, taking four guests and staff members. they believe the violence is related to a drug gang rivalry. >> meanwhile, a dream vacation turns into a nightmare. carnival cruise ship swerves to avoid a large buoy throwing some passengers right out of their beds. others were hurt when stuff started flying around. it happened near mexico's yucatan peninsula. the boat rocked from one side to another for a couple of minutes much the ship heading back to galveston, texas with some injured people on board. i thought they had some sort of surface radar to make sure they don't run into anything. buoys or icebergs.

>> right. >> well, a radical muslim group is threatening to kill the creators of south park because of the way they portrayed the prophet muhammad. watch this. >> all right. the limo's here. muhammad, thanks again for doing this. >> you've done the town a huge favor, muhammad. >> hold on a second! stop! >> well, the warning was placed on the radical muslim web site and included a gruesome picture of the dutch filmmaker who was killed by a fanatic that didn't like his portrayal of muslim women. the site said south park's creators could end up like him. it's since been taken down. >> yeah, supposedly muhammad was in the bear suit. that's where he is in that picture. meanwhile, as you take a look at some of the exciting images from the biggest movie of all time, "avatar." on this earth day and "avatar" does have a very pro earth, pro planet kind of message to it.

on this earth day, got some good news for planet earth. 20th century fox which is the parent of this organization, make-up, please. >> we're blue! >> i already am blue but now i'm red. >> now you've turned red. >> look at us. >> imagine we had all the money that was garnered from the "avatar." >> you know what? come over this way. no, this way. >> i'm sorry. >> i wasn't born -- >> went to the left. >> this is an homage to "avatar." you know who we are right now? >> blue people. >> the blues brothers and sister. >> cast us in the next "avatar" 2, we're ready, willing and able. >> anyway, 20th century fox and earth day networks are going to plant one million trees by the end of the year and "avatar" now available on d.v.d. >> all right. blue guy. >> i'm going to become a white guy again. >> all right. talk a little sports. >> all right. hey, ben roethlisberger is in trouble. commissioner roger goodel drops

the hammer on big ben. he announced a six game suspension for the steelers quarterback for violating the league's good guy policy of being a good guy. it comes a little more than a week after prosecutors decided not to charge roethlisberger after a college student accused him of sexually assaulting her in a georgia nightclub back in march. coming up next hour, we'll discuss the ramifications of that with the guy that tried to tackle him and did. michael strahan, former new york giant, now fox nfl sunday broadcaster. if he's good, he only has four games. now, we have two reasons why you should and need to watch college baseball. first, fans showed up to a florida atlantic western kentucky game expecting to see some baseball. what they got in addition was probably better. >> so they're trying to make up some time during a rain delay so they got into a danceoff. it was two hours and 13 minutes so they decided to get into some

antics. >> so you think you can dance? >> i think it's pretty cool and check out this mock wrestling match that the hilltoppers, they were able to get in before the delay ended. look at this. eventually f.a.u. fans watched their team pull a 10-3 win out over their opponent. so someone just kept running the camera. how cool is that? >> that's one way to make the time pass, isn't it? >> absolutely. >> this may be the play of the year and it happened in college. fordham, iowa, with brian kownacki trying to score. blocked the plate. >> not really. >> there he comes! >> wee! touched the plate and slipped over. part of a nine run rally. brian kownacki was hit by three pitches before that game was -- he was being embarrassed by an opponent in the end, he embarrassed them. revenge is sweet. fordham goes on to win by three, 12-9. >> that's really cool. >> you know what? i wonder if they would allow that in the mlb. i bet not. >> why wouldn't they? >> i don't know. >> you can't run outside the base line. >> right. if -- they don't say how high

you have to go or can go. >> it will be interesting. if anyone knows the answer to that, twitter me or e-mail us about that. let's talk a little bit about all that bailout money that went to certain companies. remember? about nine, 12 months ago, general motors received billions as well as chrysler and citigroup, etc., etc. how many of those people have paid back that money? if you've bin watching your television in the last 24 hours, you see the new guy that runs g.m. is out there marching around in one of the plants telling you that g.m. has paid back their billions five years ahead of schedule. >> well, that's good. >> and he thanked you for the donation. >> sure. things aren't as rosie, though, over at chrysler corporation. let's take a look. they owe $14 billion. they have repaid $1.8 billion so it's a slow go there. citigroup owes -- >> surprising a lot of people with that. >> they have repaid $25 billion but they still have $45 billion

to go and aig has repaid absolutely not one, thin dime. they still owe $70 billion. >> so many of those banks pay back and some of the smaller ones tried to pay back a couple of weeks ago and the administration said i don't think so. >> here's the -- you see that thing and you think it's so fantastic. the general motors paid back all that money. not so fast. remember, the federal government, the united states, all of us own 61% of general motors. and until we unload that thing, if we're able to get more than $45 billion, we could actually turn a little profit. but anything less than that will actually lose money. so we still have $45 billion in general motors. >> right. look for us, if it was a pure bailout with no political motivation, look for us to start selling off that stock back to the public. >> just give everybody a malibu. >> that would be good. they are banking on malibu. and the chevy volt. >> let's talk about a contest that you can enter if you are

technically savvy. you know how to run a video camera and most importantly you're creative enough to come up with a really good message for the e.p.a. here's the thing. the e.p.a. is using our taxpayer money for this contest. you can win $2500 if you produce a video that espouses the wonderful things about government regulation. >> this is crazy. people -- look, people hate government regulation so the e.p.a. is trying to have you do their dirty work. figure out a way where you can say what we're doing here with all these regulations is a good thing. >> got a catch phrase, use it. 60 to 90 seconds, deadline is the 17th of may. it could put $2500 into your pocket. good luck. >> yeah. >> meanwhile, straight ahead. >> coming up, last hour, you heard from franklin graham who might not be able to speak now at the pentagon on national prayer day because of his comments about muslims. hear from peter johnson jr. who says he knows what's going to happen next. >> how would you like to have cameras following your every move? that's what singing star brandy

and her mom are dealing with. they will join us live to tell us what it's like having a camera take a picture of a little family squabble. ah looks like somebody's a winner. ha, not me! cause shipping is a hassle. different states, different rates. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. so shipping for the chess champ in charleston is the same as shipping for the football phenom in philly? yep. so win!

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the jaguar xf. the critically acclaimed result of a very different way of thinking. >> the military invited evangelist franklin graham to speak at the pentagon on national prayer day. one group is demanding the appearance be canceled. they say his past description of islam as evil is offensesive to muslims who work for the defense department. we spoke exclusively to graham earlier on our show. >> when you look at islam, i love the people of islam but their religion, i do not agee with their religion at all and if you look at what the religion does just to women, women alone, it is just horrid. and so yes, i speak out for women. i speak out for people that live under islam, that are enslaved by islam and i want them to know

that they can be free. >> fox legal analyst peter johnson jr. joins us now for his take on this. >> good morning. >> big controversy here is whether or not they're going to allow franklin graham to speak at national prayer day at the pentagon because some comments he made after 9/11. >> yeah, a group that really dislikes christians' involvement with the military run by a veteran, veteran of the reagan white house, a veteran of mr. perot's efforts in the past is objecting to it based on complaints he says he received from muslims but the issues become now in this country, are we going to throw franklin graham under the bus in order to achieve the white house's courting of the muslim community as detailed in "the new york times" most recently. what mr. graham said was probably overblown. he says that he loves the muslim people.

we also know that his son served and serves with distinction on his third or fourth tour in iraq as an army ranger and has been wounded and so when preacher graham has been invited to speak to this prayer day and we know he's an evangelicial preacher and he wants to prosthelitize the the world including the muslims. what are we saying about ourselves? we are in a war. >> well, as usual, it's usually one person complains and the whole situation changes so if you had to make a guess, the army is still out on this now. they haven't made a decision about whether or not they're going to rescind the invitation to franklin graham. >> there's a tremendous amount of pressure on the government to rescind the invitation. we have to look at the statements made by our appointed officials. look at the statements made in

the past by rashad hussein, the president's new envoy to the muslim world which disparaged our prosecution efforts here in the united states post 9/11 on terrorism. >> it has to work both ways. >> the climate is a tough one but we also have to understand that military chaplains that preachers of all faiths associated with war, associated with our efforts in the past who have died in battle alongside of our troops, they take an approach that's for our troops and that's for our national purpose. whether the language is overblown or wrong, others can decide. it probably was based on where we are now but after 9/11, a lot of folks were making those statements. doesn't make it right. it doesn't make it wrong. he is a human. he may have made a mistake. but do we condemn him now because he's a christian preacher? >> wait and see whether or not he actually speaks on national prayer day at the pentagon. thanks. >> good to see you. >> coming up next, grammy winning singer brandy and her

mama are both here. why they're taking their personal lives now to reality tv. and on this date in history in 1970 the beatles had the number one record "let it be" and it's still fantastic. let it be today. [ male announcer ] mix . blend it. sprinkle it. sweet! [ female announcer ] just about anywhere you use sugar you can use splenda® no calorie sweetener. [ male announcer ] saory. fluffy. yummy. sweet! [ female announcer ] splenda®. america's favorite no calorie sweetener.

>> mixing business with family can bring a special set of challenges on the vh-1 reality show, ties are tested between siblings, brandy and ray j and their mom, the manager. >> this office space was to give you and ray a business setting where you guys can now participate more on the business level. >> uh-huh. >> i mean, this is your meeting and i'm just, you know, controlling it.

>> brandy and her mother, the boss here right now. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> does that happen in real life? you're controlling it. >> well, i don't want to anymore. >> so this is a setup so you can get more involved in the business aspect. >> absolutely. it's time for me to take charge and be, you know, an entrepreneur like i've always wanted to be and it's great that you have somebody like her to, you know, look up to and know -- >> show you the ropes. >> show you the ropes and it's time. i'm 31, come on. >> you've been in charge of the family business for a long time. >> very long time. >> brandy in that clip, it didn't look like you were too interested in taking over the business. >> you know what? it's kind of hard for me to mix the business with the personal because i do everything from my heart so i'm transitioning. i'm working on it. >> she's been famous for so long, has she complained to you in the past, can i get a say in this? why am i playing this, why am i singing here? >> yes, definitely. all the time. >> during the commercial, i asked you a question that i

wonder about. why did you name brandy, brandy? and i've never heard this story. >> yes. i named her after a neighbor's dog. >> the neighbor's dog? my daughter. >> why? >> she was very pretty, the dog was very pretty and her mom had cancer and, you know, the dog had cancer and then there was a song after that named "brandy" and i just loved the name brandy. i love you, brandy. >> i love you, too. >> how is it having reality cameras focusing on your entire life? >> it's interesting because, you know, your life is basically put on black, it's an open book. after a while, you forget the cameras are there. that's where you get the magical spoeshl moments. >> there will be an episode where you go visit a morning show live. part of the show. >> that will be cool. >> check it out sundays on vh-1. it's brandy and ray j, a family business. >> absolutely. >> 9:00. >> thank you. >> thank you, guys.

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>> gretchen: good morning, everyone. thursday, april 22, 2010. thanks for sharing your time today. the big news day, fox news alert. huge news out of iraq. a verdict handed down now for one of the navy seals accused of giving a most wanted terrorist a punch. we will bring that to you moments from now. >> steve: president obama picks a fight with wall street on wall street's home turf. do you know really what he wants to change? how about being able to go through your bank account or see with a your charging on your bank account? that didn't end well for elliott spitser. >> brian: i get up every day and say, can we get a dog that can skateboard. tillman, the skateboarding dog is here live. slogan this hour comes from socrates, thank you.

we owe you one. it's earth day, i think i'll go plant a tree as soon as i watch "fox & friends" on my tv. >> this is peter frampton here. you're watching "fox & friends". >> brian: peter frampton played on arriver randa. >> gretchen: today is his birthday. is that true? >> brian: he's 60 today. >> gretchen: huge news, a military jury cleared a navy seal of all charges in his court-martial case. the petty officer was accused of failing to prevent the beating of an iraqy prisoner accused of master minding an attack that killed four u.s. contractors. the iraqi captured, he testified that he was beaten while a u.s. sailor told the court that he saw the prisoner punched once. joining us now on the phone is a lawyer for one of the accused navy seals. he's matthew mccabe's lawyer

and he'll go on trial may 3. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> gretchen: you must be feeling pretty good knowing the first seal has been cleared. what does this mean for your client? >> we're overjoyed about this. what it should mean for our client is that the government should drop charges against petty officers, because both of them independently passed a professional independent polygraph test that proved that they're not guilty. >> brian: how does this, your case, stack up to the one with huertas? more challenging? what are the exact accusations against your client? >> they're also that he failed to protect the detainee, but then that he also punched a detainee and then lied about it by denying it. of course, we now know that he wasn't lying and that he was telling the truth because of that polygraph. >> steve: and as it turns out, i guess you can't trust what a terrorist says to somebody, too. >> well, you can't trust it and

the case really looks good for us. we plan ton getting an acquittal in mccabe's case regardless in the other case. i believe the charges should be dropped against the other two. it's a waste of government assets. >> gretchen: a lot of people argued that because they say that quite frankly, he's the most wanted terrorist. many people wouldn't argue with the fact that maybe he got a little roughed up, if that even happened. be that as it may, why is your client being tried in norfolk, virginia, and the other two being tried in iraq? >> well, it's because we have different military judges. there is a different military judge for the huertas and keefe case. our judge allowed us to remain here. >> steve: what has been the reaction from your client, mccabe, hearing this news today? >> we got e-mails from him. he's overjoyed and he says next it is the keefe acquittal and he's confident next is his

acquittal. >> brian: he said, we're going to take this as far as we can to prove we're innocent. has there been any regrets from doing this underneath the radar, so to speak? >> not a single regret. this proves the rightness of their decision to go before a jury of their peers with a presumption of innocence. >> gretchen: will the jury for your client be made aware that julio huertas was found not guilty on any of the charges or will that be something they will not be allowed to know? >> no. they can be made aware, particularly when petty officer huerta testifies for mccabe and that would become apparent to the jury. >> brian: when is your trial? >> maybe 3 in norfolk. >> steve: we thank you very much for joining us from virginia. >> thank you. >> gretchen: another fox news alert. 100 workers being reunited with their families in louisiana after that oil rig explosion.

survivors were brought to shore this morning. at the same time, 11 missing workers still and the search is on for them. four of the survivors are in critical condition. the cause of the explosion still unknown. ben roethlisberger traded from the pittsburgh steelers. that's the buzz this morning as nfl commissioner roger goodell drops the hammer on him. suspending roethlisberger for six games for violating the league's personal conduct policy. it comes after a week after prosecutors decided not to charge roethlisberger after a college student accused him of sexual assaulting her in a nightclub. this happened apparently in georgia. is the punishment too harsh? in 30 minute, nfl great michael strahan will be our guest on the curvy couch and he will answer that question. the volcano in iceland is spewing less issue this morning, but scientists are keeping an eye on a neighboring and potentially more dangerous very kay know. the airline industry predicting the losses will be more than

2 billion bucks and it wants compensation from european governments. 80% of the air space in europe is open right now, but shifting winds sent a plume of ash over scandinavia, forcing some airports to close again today. carriers say it may take as long as a week to get everyone where they need to go. controversy about this because you you see the airlines are saying that they should have been able to fly sooner, that modern day airplanes can handle that ash. i'm not so sure that any of us on an airplane would want to take that risk. i'm not so sure about that. >> brian: finding a way to sue because of a volcano. >> steve: she was on the hannity show last night and we locked her in the denver bure crow said you can't go home until she appears on the show. there he is. michelle malkin. good morning to you. >> good morning. yeah. i have a cop here at the denver bureau. >> steve: it's like being in an airport these days. michelle, the president is coming to coopers union here in new york city today and he's going to scold wall street.

we know last week on friday, the sec announced that goldman sachs had committed fraud in some of these complicated mortgage-backed securities and stuff like that. while the administration may says goldman sachs, broadsters, it's clear that there are so many members, alumni of goldman sachs in the administration and in government, you wrote a column called all the president's goldman sachs men. >> yeah. and in fact, in culture of corruption, i had highlighted the inextricable relationship between goldman sachs, which is known frequently as government sachs because it has its tentacles in administrations, whether they're republican or democrat and certainly that has been the case with this administration of so-called hope and change. everyone from gary gensler to rahm emanuel, who was on

retainer with goldman sachs, and then received tons of campaign cash from them when he was a member of congress for four term s, to geithner who is mentored by the goldman sachs complex and now we have a former goldman sachs lobbyist, mark patterson as well, who is the deputy to tim geithner overseeing the trillion dollar tarp bail out, which goldman sachs benefited from. >> gretchen: on its face, it doesn't seem right that then president obama would be isn't that correcting down on them if he has so many friends there because let's face it, he got more than a million bucks from goldman donations when he was trying to become president. so there is that fact. and then the second piece of the puzzle is whether or not he should give that money back now if, in fact, goldman will be cited for doing something wrong. >> yes. i think this is a case of having your tainted campaign cash and eating it, too. they're going to refuse to

return this million dollars worth and at the same time, they've benefited from years of this during the bush tenure of ha ranging republicans for accepting other evil corporate money, whether it was enron or halliburton, et cetera. so of course it's business as usual and let's not pretend otherwise. >> brian: let's talk about freddie mac and fannie mae and how hear intertwined. not mentioned in the reform of wall street or the financial industry in particular. let's talk about who has been involved in fannie mae and freddie mac in the past in this administration. >> well, sure. i mentioned rahm emanuel and, of course, he was on the board of fannie mae and was there during a lot of these enron-style accounting scandals that fannie mae hasn't been held accountable for. and obama and chris dodd, who is using this financial quote, unquote, reform of his as he's driven out of office basically for all of his ethics scandal,

all of them have been tainted by fannie mae and freddie mac and here they are carving a massive loophole the size of the grand canyon in the bill for them. >> steve: what is extraordinary about the fact -- you've got those three men picked on the screen right now. have championed fannie mae and freddie mac and have gotten big campaign donations from the people at fannie mae and freddie mac. for the fact that this great big reorganization of the financial services industry which the dodd bill would do, they don't even address fannie mae and freddie mac. it's the elephant sitting in the middle of the room. they're not doing anything that would keep what caused the financial meltdown from happening again! >> yes. because, of course, it doesn't fit the narrative. they've got to go after private firms, even if those private firms have been bailed out. it doesn't matter. i think that this is a very interesting thing that obama has invoked for himself. he's going to march up to wall

street, wag his finger at all of these firms because they've got to shut up and take it since they've shoveled billions of dollars in their pockets and guess what? these firms are going to sit there and take it. >> gretchen: the republicans, a lot of people would want them to maybe fight to get fannie mae and freddie mac some sort of regulation on that in this bill if they're going to go along with it. but we'll have to wait if that happens. i want to get your take on something that happened this week at the white house because the message from the obama administration has been that they will be the most transparent white house ever. and there was an incident where some members of the military, at least dressed up like that, were handcuffing themselves in an area where typically protests happen and the police chased the reporters away and basically said they could not cover the event that was happening. the police say that it was a rookie mistake. but what's your take on it? >> well, i think what amuses me most is the left wing frenzy over this because you have all these blogs now, left wing journalists finally realizing that obama lied and transparency

died and all the morons and media matters can google that or search it in their transcript it, i've said it so many times on your show and fox about this administration's lack of commitment to transparency in every single bureau and agency and far more serious, of course, when it comes to their dealings in homeland security. this is just a small manifestation of that and i'm glad some of these people on the left are finally waking up and smelling the stone walling coffee here. >> brian: we'll see. the president will be in cooper union today and the word is that the republicans are willing to play ball and help him get another major piece of legislation passed. >> steve: michelle, you are now released from the denver bureau. go back to your family in colorado springs. >> thank you. >> brian: your belongings will be returned to you in moments. straight ahead, you're sick, you go to the doctor. but you're treated by a nurse. our next guest says get used to it. she knows. she's a nurse. >> gretchen: practitioner. then a controversial story about racism and the nfl.

a white player told he would be drafted higher if he was black. michael strahan of fox nfl sunday here to weigh in. he'll be with us live.

>> steve: now that health care reform passed, are you ready for your nurse to be your primary care prior? not perhaps your doctor. in 28 states, nurse practitioners, which are registered nurses with some extra training, may soon have the power to do just that. that's because states are looking to fill a future doctor shortage by giving nurses the same authority that a lot of doctors have. but are they up to the job? that is the big question. >> gretchen: with us now is the president of the american academy of nurse practitioners, dee swanson. good morning to you. >> good morning to you. >> gretchen: so by the year 2019, the expectation is that

32 million more americans will be covered under health insurance and there will not be enough primary care physicians to see all of those patients. that means people like you, a nurse practitioner, could now assume that role. am i correct? >> you are correct. however, we've been doing this for 40 years. this is not a new phenomenon and in those 28 states, those nurse practitioners have been seeing patients, diagnosing them, prescribing medications for them for many years. >> steve: in fact, i frequently go to my doctor and i never see the doctor. i wind up seeing a nurse practitioner who gives me a prescription for my runny nose or whatever. but there are a lot of people who are watching this right now and saying, if i go to the doctor, i want to see the doctor. make the case why going to see the doctor but seeing the nurse practitioner is a good idea. >> well, if a patient wants to see a doctor, they should see a

doctor. but if a patient wants to see a nurse practitioner, they should be able to see a nurse practitioner. i think that's what the issue is is access to nurse practitioners. we're there. we're providing the care. >> steve: but if you make the call to your doctor's office and you say, i need to see the doctor, when you show up, you expect to see the doctor. you don't expect to see the nurse practitioner. >> well, that doesn't usually occur. the front office staff of offices usually asks the patient who they usually see and who they prefer to see. i work in an office where there is a physician. i have my own patients, he has his. they see who they want. patients should always know who the provider is that's caring for them. >> gretchen: is it the case where if somebody -- does it depend on what they're coming to the doctor for as to whom they see? in other words, if it's a cold, then they send in the nurse practitioner. but if it's strep throat, i don't know, i'm just trying to figure out different diagnoses.

if something is more serious they end up seeing the doctor? >> oh, not at all. not at all. it depends on the structure of the office. in most offices, nurse practitioners have their own patients. so if the patient calls the office because they have a sore throat, they'll ask to see their provider. >> gretchen: so if you see a nurse practitioner, do you pay less than when you see the doctor? >> you don't pay less. you're paying for a service. >> steve: okay. so -- >> i think what you want to know is the cost effective factor and the cost effectiveness of nurse practitioners is across the board, from the ability of the nurse practitioner to manage their chronic diseases well, that keeps them out of the er, keep them out of the hospital. >> steve: sure. ultimately to make us feel better and healthy. dee swanson, thank you very much for giving us a peek at the. the world of nurse

practitioners. >> gretchen: it may be the way of the future as we move into insuring more. >> steve: who will take care of them. >> gretchen: senate democrats released their budget plan. will it make a dent in the deficit? >> steve: a sun like you've never seen before. new pictures out of nasa of the star that keeps us warm and lights up our life.

>> brian: the democrats released their plan for the budget which is supposed to shrink the federal deficit. does it go far enough? we're joined by new hampshire senator judd greg for now, the ranking member on the senate budget committee. i watched you, like everybody on c-span this morning. this was your last markup, they were saying and congratulated you, both sides. where are we at now as you

see -- you displayed that graph for us when it comes to reducing the deficit in our spending ratio, it's kind of ugly, isn't it? >> it's worse than ugly. it's disasterous. we're looking at a lot more deficit and more debt and guaranteeing our kids will have less prosperity. we are on a path to within five years, having junk bond status, junk bond status for the united states treasuries because we'll have run the debt up so high that essentially our debt will be downgraded. you're talking about doubling the national debt in five years, tripling it in ten years. there is absolutely no fiscal discipline in this budget at all. i mean, it's an outrage for anybody to represent that it has any fiscal discipline. there is no restraint. the entire cut in this budget is $4 billion. $4 billion! on a budget that's $3 trillion next year. i mean, it's absurd. this congress is on a spending binge. it's just running our country

right into the ditch and it's taking our kids with it. >> brian: i watched you and no one disputed your graph to say where we're headed for the next generation. they seem to dispute what you're doing now. essentially they factoring in, are democrats factoring in the fact we're in this, our economy was going to hit the side of a mountain and we had to put that spending into place? we're going to need a massive change, aren't we? >> of course we are. i mean, if you look at their own budget, they're talking about an average deficit of a trillion dollars every year for the next ten years. they're talking about taking the public debt from 35% gdp up to 100% which means we'll be like greece. i mean, we're on this path. there is no way off this path unless you control the rate of growth of spending. it's not a revenue issue. i heard the president say he might entertain a value added tax. that's an outrageous idea. this isn't a revenue issue. this is a spending issue. the federal government under this administration has gone from 20% of gdp to 25% of gdp,

headed towards 30% of gdp. our revenues will be back to 20%, which is above the historic norm since world war ii. it's a spending issue. >> brian: let's talk about what's happening here in new york. cooper union, the president will talk about reforming wall street, the biggest change since 1930. it's in committee right now you're part of. tell me, what would it take for you to get aboard with the president's proposals? >> well, i'd like to see a package which was bipartisan, number one. i'd like to see too big to fail as a policy. i don't think taxpayers should have to stand behind banks that do a bad job and get in trouble. i think that that should not be an issue. i would also like to see a derivative proposal that is going to make derivatives safer and sounder while not pushing our entire derivatives market offshore. >> brian: $50 billion as a fund

to break down failed banks. does that have to be out for you and other republicans to come aboard? >> it doesn't have to be out for me to come aboard. but it has to be protected from the congress spending it on something else. whenever the congress see has pot of money, there is a tendency to go after it and spend it on whatever the local social justice issue is of the day. if we'll set up that type of fund to protect the taxpayers from having to come in to back up banks, that fund ought to be protected from the congress, which is the real problem to begin with. >> brian: senator, looks like by all accounts, let's say we'll head to some bipartisan agreement, it will be the president's second major legislative victory. thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> brian: coming up, a controversial story about racism in the nfl. you got a white player, told he would be drafted higher if he was just black. he's a runningback. michael strahan. he's with the fox nfl sunday. he'll weigh in. then, the best pictures of the

sun i can ever remember, better than my sketches. we will show you more of this incredible footage because it really happened. plus, the most talented beast on a board. tillman, the skateboarding dog who seems to love this sport. he rolls into your living room right after this because he is with us live on our veranda.

>> steve: all right. about half past on this thursday

morning and we got a fox news alert. the labor department just reporting the latest unemployment numbers. 456,000 new claims were filed last week. that is down 24,000 and just under the 460,000 that were predicted. there are 4.6 million continuing claims and millions more who have simply given up looking for a job. >> gretchen: couple other headlines. president obama brings his financial reform plans to the world financial capital today. he's going to be giving a speech in new york city, telling congress to move faster on the issue and inviting wall street to join in. there could be a compromise bill for the senate to consider this weekend. and in a few minute, one of the president's senior advisors, valerie jarrett, will join us with a preview of the president's speech today to the financial district. >> brian: new kind of spacecraft, hours away from launching a secret mission. don't tell anybody. the last-off is set for x37b --

>> steve: that's the craft. >> brian: it's scheduled for 7:52. the unmanned craft looks a lot like the space shuttle. but don't call it that. it's smaller, no windows. why? there is nobody inside. it's designed to orbit alone. it's going to orbit for nine months, run entirely remote control and then land in california. the air force says its mission is top secret and won't reveal what type of information it's looking for. >> gretchen: that's because they know there are people on mars and they're going up to visit them. >> brian: it's a theory. >> gretchen: i'm going with it. the 40th anniversary of earth day. it began way back when in 1970 to increase awareness about environmental and eco logical issues and check out this video of the sun. maybe that orbit thing will see this. some of the first images from nasa's new solar dynamics observatory that will help uncover some of the sun's inner workings and provide information on climate change on the earth. >> brian: mike strahan will explain why that happens shortly.

>> steve: because it is earth day, go out and hug a tree, people. meanwhile, the tree will be wet if you are in the central plains states. thunder boomers firing up in the dodge city, garden city, kansas area, right through portions of the lower -- rather the central missouri and mississippi valley and stuff moving into the ohio valley. it's dry from the mid atlantic down south. right down in kansas city, 53. 45 in cleveland and for the most part through the ohio valley, 50s across much of dixie land. 60s along the gulf coast. later on today on this thursday, it will be a beautiful day in raleigh-durham. 76. a little warmer through portions of the south. 83 in memphis. across texas, temperatures in the 70s. northern plains, in the upper 60s, as will be the case throughout the northeast today. >> brian: wonderful job. >> steve: thank you very much. >> brian: former new york giant and fox nfl sunday analyst, not

a former analyst. mike strahan, welcome to the couch. >> hello. >> steve: how are you celebrating earth day? >> hug ago tree. >> brian: there you go! >> gretchen: i wish i was sitting there. >> brian: me, too. >> gretchen: let's talk -- we can make it happen. >> steve: if you were a tree, what kind of a tree would you be? >> i would probably be a -- >> steve: redwood, because you're big. >> big trunk. >> gretchen: a lot of husky guys at radio city music hall tonight for the draft. prime time for the first time. what are your expectations? >> i think sam bradford should be the number one pick. talking to the scouts and they saw him at his workout. he threw 50 perfect balls and when he's thrown the ball deep, it's amazing.

extremely smart. that's what you look for. you find -- rarely do you find a runningback like that. >> brian: he came back last year and got hurt and if he wasn't able to play, if he lost that status, you wouldn't see anybody finishing out their senior year anymore, because it's too much of a risk. he's going to make $50 million and gets hurt, he gets a job like everybody else? >> for him to come back and say he's still the number one pick, i think it's because of what he's done when he did play and the type of player he is. i'm sure they research everything. they know what size shoe his mother wears. >> steve: how does that come into play? >> they probably snuck in the house. they find out everyone. and the second pick, probably will be the second pick out of of nebraska, rare defensive lineman as well because of his strength and technique. something you don't see coming out of college. >> gretchen: speaking about getting all the details with a person before you draft them,

could it be racism is working in reverse for toby gear heart. he was asked apparently about being a white runningback by one of the teams, like in other words, saying, hey, have you ever felt different about being a white runningback. >> brian: do you feel entitled? >> i mean, i think you have a lot of guys that come out of college and they're black quarterbacks, you say well, you know, he's got to be a receiver. that used to be a stereotype. >> gretchen: good point. >> that was put towards a black quarterback in college and could this be a reverse in that case? possibly. >> brian: rob carpenter, there is not many white runningbacks these days. >> there is not. you had a guy whose shown it can happen and can work, you can be successful and watching toby gearheart in college, incredible player. >> brian: if you're a gm, do you say i don't know if i want to take a risk on a white runningback or do you look at a runningback? >> but you can look at tim tebow

and say, why can't he be a great pro quarterback? i was told i was going in the first round. they lied to me, too. >> brian: you were in the second round. >> gretchen: it ended up okay. >> it did. go ahead. >> steve: we were going to move to ben roethlisberger. yesterday the commissioner said, ben, that's a no-no. we'll put you in the time out room for six games without pay. >> i'm looking at that picture of roethlisberger and then you look at the one that he took when he walked out of city commissioner, he was so clean, he had his hair cut then. even though he wasn't convicted of anything, roger goodell has done a good job of saying this is sour brand, we're going to protect it. roethlisberger is not convicted, but he hut himself -- put himself in a situation that made him and the team look bad. >> brian: terry bradshaw says i called him out twice and he doesn't like me and i'm starting

not to like him. >> it's rare. for me, it's something you put your personal, if you like somebody, if you don't, you can't use that to say convict this guy. i just think an example is being made of ben roethlisberger to let other players know, even if you put yourself in a situation, convicted or not, and especially multiple times, you're going to be punished. >> gretchen: how rare is it for an nfl commissioner or anybody in charge of any sport, to actually be disciplinary? we don't see that very much. so hats off to roger goodell for running a tight ship? >> yeah. i think you have to take your hats off to him for running a tight ship. but i don't think roger goodell is a guy who think, i want to punish people. that's not what his job is. his job is to make sure he protects the legacy and the history and the future of the nfl. >> brian: word is, the raiders have some interest, the word is last night, the steelers are offering a 28-year-old two-time super bowl winning ben roethlisberger around to the league. chances of that happening, would you do it?

>> anything could happen. >> brian: what do you think will happen? >> i don't think it will happen. i don't see it happening. i think he has been and will continue to be the quarterback of the steelers. i think his future is extremely bright. i think -- >> brian: it's up to him. >> i think if he doesn't bounce back, it's on him. >> brian: how do we work out in 15 minutes and get stronger? >> you know what, go to stronger scan.com. >> stronger skin.com. vaseline and men came up with whole program, how to work out. i'm going to get you in shape. >> brian: i came down and you worked me out. >> steve: i went with you, remember? >> gretchen: here is how i was going to ask the question about the vaseline thing, how do you keep your skin so smooth? >> i keep my skin smooth, soft and supple -- >> gretchen: that's a sensitive way. i like that. >> fast absorbing lotion.

dries in 15 seconds, so you won't be looking all shiny. >> steve: good enough. if you would like more information, go to www.foxandfriends.com. and we will redirect you to his web site. always a pleasure. >> brian: it kind of bothers us you're in good shape after retiring. it bothers me you haven't let yourself go. >> i see you on television every morning. i have to keep up. >> brian: you still have a better build than me. >> i'm hugging me when we're done. >> gretchen: you guys read the tease. good to see you. >> brian: president obama is making a house call as he visits new york city trying to sell regulatory reform. they want us to whisper. the president -- let her go -- senior advisor joins us live. >> steve: michael, read that. >> the fastest four legged phenom is in our closet. get on board with tillman, the well balanced bulldog, straight ahead.

>> gretchen: in a few hours, president obama will try to convince the financial world that financial reform is a necessity. he will be speaking just blocks from wall street right here in new york city. joining us now, senior advisor to president obama, valerie jarrett. good morning to you. >> good morning. how are you? >> gretchen: i'm fine, thanks for being our guest. the president had a big speech on tap around noontime here in new york city trying to convince the financial world the financial reform is a very good idea. what is going to be the heart and soul of his message? >> well, i think you had it right. he's going to reach out and ask those on wall street to join with us in our effort for financial reform. he's going to describe the rules of the road that he thinks were so essential to have in place to avoid the kind of excessive risk that was taken that got us into the financial nightmare that we just experienced 15 months ago.

this is his third time making this speech to wall street. he did it first in 2007, warning wall street to discontinue those excessive, risky practices. he went back again in 2008 before the meltdown and he said if you continue this dreadful things will happen. with this year, we're able to point more specifically to what happened. there is a lot of money being spent on lobbyists in wall street fighting against financial reform. the case the president will make is look, join with us. many of them have admit that had excessive risks were taken and we want to work with them to push through financial reform. right now, every day that goes by where we don't have the rules of the road in place, we run the risk of repeating the excesses that resulted in the worst financial nightmare since the great depression. >> gretchen: i think most people would agree except that many people argue what caused the financial collapse was fannie mae and freddie mac and the members of congress who passed that kind of legislation through

many years ago. why is that not included, regulation on fannie mae and freddie mac in the president's financial reform package? >> look, i think what we're trying to do right now is to look at the excessive risks that were taken by a very few number of banks and that's what we believe actually led to the financial meltdown. >> gretchen: you don't believe that fannie mae and freddie mac had anything to do with the financial collapse? >> i didn't say that. i said -- and we will obviously be looking at them as well. but what i'm saying is that the important pillars we need to put in place, the fundamental pillars that will protect against what happened with the financial crisis is to make sure that there is transparency, rules of the road, protecting the consumer. we need to have a consumer protection agency that's going to be fighting on behalf of the consumers. we need transparency and we need to have a limit to the excessive risk we're taking. that's what we think will protect against what happened last time. >> one of the other things you need is public support. some people right now are claiming that there was a coincidental timing of the sec

filing this civil lawsuit against goldman sachs last friday right before the president was going to be calling for financial reform. was there any coincidence in that timing? >> listen, gretchen, the president, as i mentioned, called for reform back in 2007. the bill that he proposed was over a year ago. we've been working on this with congress ever since and so i think that the time is right, right this minute to move forward. so obviously we don't have anything to do with an independent authority that makes a decision that was made by the sec, but there is plenty of evidence that the reform was needed. if you look at the millions of people around the country and businesses who suffered as a result of the excessive risks that were taken, that should be all the evidence we need. >> gretchen: the president is following through on the campaign promise to push through financial reform. i want to look at some of the other campaign promises and promises since he's become president that he has made. according to the daily beast, there are seven promises he has not followed through with, including don't ask don't tell, immigration, closing guantanamo bay, cap and trade, to the moon

and back, and transparency. why don't you take a crack at one of those. like, for example, closing guantanamo bay, that was one of his first directives. that still has not happened. will the president follow through on these seven remaining promises? >> of course he's going to be working on all of them. as you know, the president has to, for all of them, legislation is needed. we'll be working with congress. the president reached out to five republican leaders in congress on his flight back from california on immigration reform. he's made it clear that's an important measure for us to move forward. so we are moving forward, but you also have to look at the context of the message the president inherited 15 months ago. his first priority was to get the economy back on track. we were losing over 750,000 job has month when the president took office. now we are seeing a positive increase. negative growth. we had the financial markets in a complete meltdown. so we are moving forward on all fronts. >> gretchen: valerie, some might argue that health care was his first priority and jobs came

second. but we'll have to save that for another time. valerie, thank you so much for being our guest. >> thank you. and we have a president who can multi task. >> gretchen: we hope so. thank you. coming up on the show, tillman, the fastest skateboarding bulldog is here with his train torre veal how he taught him this amazing trick. check it out. first, let's check in with bill hemmer. >> entertaining show today. strahan, funny guy. house minority leader, john boehner, is here this morning. why he says this wall street idea is a jobs killer. stay tuned for that today. arizona sheriff calling for asap and the baseball player that everybody is calling about. wait until you see what he did and how he did it. he's here live. join martha and me ten minutes away, top of the hour.

>> steve: welcome back. over 20 million views, this active canine you tube video earned him a spot on the top 50 you tube videos of all time. he even surfs and is live and in front of our studio right now. tillman the bulldog, along with his trainer and owner, ron davis. good morning to you. >> brian: get over here, ron. that is tillman. he is loving life right now. >> steve: how long does it take to you train a dog to surf board? >> if you learn to skate and surf, he has a drive for all three. he loves it. >> brian: he was born that way. he's barking now 'cause he's not there. >> steve: when did you feel like this is a sensation that people can't get enough of? >> there is not a lot of dogs doing this right now. there he goes. >> steve: going over there. >> yeah. he just loves it.

all he wants to do is skate. >> steve: bring in rose. >> this is rosy. one-year-old female. she's a great snowboarder. >> steve: let's hear it for rosy! >> she loves to -- she's got a secret to go after. >> steve: let's see it. let's go! >> rosy doing her thing. >> steve: we got to go back over here. what are all those pink balloons? something about a bulldog with a skirt on. >> steve: rose, the balloon popping bulldog! i would hate to book your dog for my kid's birthday party. >> it wouldn't be a clean one. >> brian: what are you doing with these dog as soon as how are you getting dogs involved? >> we're doing barks. with the new york mets, you

bring your dog to the ball game. sold out quick. and we're also going to do it with the texas rangers and the san francisco giants and other teams. >> brian: on the 25th of july and august 29 with the giants. >> that's right. it's setting records. >> steve: you're going to continue with us live from new york city in a couple of minutes. you're watching fox "friends." come on, rosy! two more to go. one.

>> gretchen: we're back outside with the cute pooch. >> steve: you tube sensation. tillman is lighting this world on fire. >> gretchen: let's see tillman do something else. >> brian: let's see you race our show. >> gretchen: go, buddy! , one footed! >> brian: tillman is a great dog. he's running out of gas? >> he's been skating in new york quite a bit. he's been having a lot of fun. sh steve: that will wrap up our